Strawberry cake pops! Yum. The ingredients include strawberries, of course, along with the usual baking essentials such as flour, sugar and butter. But do you know the recipe for courage?

Aleena Khan and Saba Karim Khan do, and they have shared it in their book A Recipe for Courage, recently published by Liberty Kids, with beautiful illustrations by Aditi Mehta.

All you need is a cup of bravery, two spoonfuls of kindness and a pinch of standing tall to foster courage.

If you are wondering where to find bravery, kindness and the ability to stand tall, well, the store or supermarket where you can find these is not far away. It lies within you. That’s exactly where young Alia finds them when she decides to run for House Captain at her new school.

It is not easy to leave your old friends behind and start afresh at a new school. Apart from getting used to your new surroundings and trying to do well in your studies, you also have to make new friends. Poor Alia obviously has too much on her plate.

Can her little stall at her new school’s Summer Fun Fair, where she plans to sell strawberry cake pops prepared with the help of her wise old grandmother, help her achieve her academic and social goals? You’ll have to read the book to find out!

Published in Dawn, Young World, October 17th, 2026